The gray concept is Mercury. Gray is neither black nor white. Of all the planets
that can be seen, the planet Mercury is the hardest to find. Mercury is the God of
knowledge. Schools, learning, and teaching are all under Mercury. The sacred name of
Mercury, SHIN, means learning. Schools in a civilized society often become institutions of
domestication, where people are broken, like horses, to do what the system wants. Schools
can be used to train people to steal from each other. Civilization keeps going by
organized thievery called business, and everyone in civilization is made a part of it.
Mercury is the God of Thieve.

Mercury can also be a necessary part of a nature-loving religion. Our temple can
have priests. The priest is the one who ministers the religion to the people. The system
of symbols, concepts, and ideas is the Hermetic system of a religion, which the priest
might learn and use. Mercury is the messenger of God. A priest is a messenger of God.
Mercury is the high priest, who can teach the Hermetic system.

In many ways, a professor at a. civilized university is a priest for the
civilization. Civilization itself is a form of religion. In civilized societies, higher
education is often limited to the few who fit the system. The universities are there to
initiate people into the system, and not really there to teach. Sometimes this forced
initiation is done against a persons will, if he doesnt want to be made part
of the system. I prefer an open culture where anyone can learn if they want to. I also
prefer a society where no one is forced to learn.

In ancient times, the priest would wear horns at the Sabbaths to distinguish
himself. When the old pagan religions were replaced by anti-Nature religions, the man with
horns became known as an evil symbol. The meanings of many old pagan Gods were forgotten.
Many civilized religions consider the old pagan Gods evil Demons. I prefer the old pagan,
nature-loving cult. The Horned God is the good God in my religion.

You might notice how different cultures often write different stories about the
same God. In Egypt, Thoth is considered wisdom. In Greece, Hermes is a messenger of God.
In northern Europe, Odin is king at the center of everything. In Babylon, Nebo was an
astrologer. In India, Agni is the god of ceremonial fire. These are different ways of
looking at Mercury. Even within a culture different people can have different points of
view, so you might find all these different Mercuries in every culture. All these Gods are
classified in my Hermetic system as Mercury, because each of these Gods was the high
priest. The ancient Greeks knew that Thoth, Odin, Mercury, Agni, and Nebo were all really
Hermes.

In ancient times, people often exchanged information over long distances. A fairly
similar Hermetic system was being used in ancient times all over Europe and the
Mediterranean. Everyone worshipped the same family of Gods, even though they gave them
different Names. Other cultures that were completely separate from Europe, such as the
Mexican Indians, also have similar Gods. These Gods can easily be classified on the
Hermetic system, as if all mankind really worships the same Gods. I think each culture
discovers the same family of Gods simply because all people encounter the same conditions
in life. I discovered many of my Gods simply by thinking about things that I have seen
happen.

Reality is more than point-of-view, and there is a real world out there. Our view
is only an imaginary butterfly that someone could follow over a cliff that he never
thought was there. We have to keep our senses open to find our way in this world. Our
inner nature motivates and guides us as we explore our world. Each person is different.
Just observe a bunch of babies and you will get an ideal of what I mean. Notice how
different people search in different places and specialize in different kinds of
knowledge. Adults do it, too. We never stop doing it.

Our environment leads us to believe in things, even things that dont exist.
The way something makes a person feel affects how a person sees it. Our feelings create
images. Man is biologically made to see things in at particular way, in a particular
place. It only works properly when things are in their right place. If we were another
species, we would have a different system and see things in a different way, but we are
not another species. Only someone living naturally can see things naturally. Anyone
outside of Nature will see things distorted, develop perverted ideas, and never know what
he could know if he was natural.

By world, I mean every-thing in that world, even the thoughts and opinions of
people are part of that world. Man synthesizes his knowledge to create it, but the raw
material he uses to make knowledge comes from what he has learned or felt from the world.
This is true of everyoneeven those who deny the material world. Those who deny the
world simply got the wrong idea somehow.

As we discover the world, we create opinions about it. It is possible for these
opinions to be wrong, especially when a person is letting a belief decide things for him,
rather than actual facts. For example, a civilized man who has never been in nature might
think Nature is evil. In civilization, many people are conditioned to believe that what
they are doing is right, even if it isnt. The preparatory process of conditioning,
through which civilization puts its chosen, removes the persons ability to
distinguish right from wrong.

Environmental factors that can influence a person are people, ideas, emotions,
politics, philosophy, expectations, and anything else that affects your life. Your
environment is also made of things that you have done. The environment is creating you,
but you also create your environment. People have a way of doing things that is caused by
their way of seeing things. Their way of seeing things is caused by their way of doing
things. Ideas influence the way people act. There are idealistic ideas, which are false,
but the influence they have on people is real. An insane idea. would be one that causes
you to act unnaturally, or create an unnatural situation. Unnatural situations can cause
unnatural ideas.

Mans knowledge is not limited to each person alone, because people group
together into a knowledge pool, where people learn from each other. Even the words you use
to think get meaning by how people use them. A societys behavior can be affected by
how its members think or feel. A society acts the way it feels, much as a single man
would. It is affected by the environment, and also creates its environment. Different
conditions can cause different societies to think differently. Some cultures, such as
civilized cultures, are detached from nature and their mind thinks unnaturally. Some are
part of Nature and their mind thinks naturally. Most civilized men have never really
examined their beliefs. They just think whatever cultural bias is the norm in their
culture.

There are many things people want and expect to get. You might find a lot of
expectations that dont happen, even when you try. You might see that Good does not
always win over Evil, nor is the end of the tunnel always lighted. There is no divine law
that makes our expectations the purpose of the universe, even though we might want them to
be. The holy spirit that guides the world might seem sometimes to be a wise guiding hand,
or sometimes he might appear to be purposely deceiving us. This holy spirit is called
Eshu. You can see him as an Angel or a Devil, depending upon how he fits your
expectations.

As we go through life, we make choices and develop plans. When we get to the
crossroads, we have to choose which path we want to take We might not know where the road
will lead us, but we have to use what we think we know to make the choice. The way You see
things can determine which path you take. Eshu means rising or beginning, such as the
beginning of an ideal or the beginning of a. journey. The word, initiation, can also mean
the beginning of journey down a path. Each step You take throughout your life is your own
initiation. You choose to do it and you discover from it. The word, initiation, also means
learning.

For some people, initiation means the beginning of their religious devotion. For
many priests, it is an IAO ritual where they destroy their old self and start a new self.
This could be very self-destructive. Perhaps it would be better if your initiation is a
natural continuation of your life or you will wind up fighting yourself. I want a
nature-loving religion, where even the priests walk down a natural path.

Some people think Eshu is the Devil, because he sometimes leads us down the wrong
path. Actually, there is nothing evil about going the wrong ways occasionally. We learn
from our mistakes. If Eshu sent us down the right path all the time we would never learn
anything. There are many wrong paths you have to take to find the right path. Mans
natural ability to think is not evil. Today, mans ability to think has created
civilization, which is a wrong path, but we can still realize our mistakes and try to find
the right path.

At the crossroads there are many paths to choose. A belief is where we think each
path might lead. The truth is where each path actually leads. You can picture the
crossroads with Eshu in the middle of many paths leading away from him. Each path leads to
something different. You can think of the Zodiac as the truth at the end of each path. The
Zodiac is everything, stable and absolute. Mercury is a point-of-view in the Zodiac and
the active thinking of man.

Every time you start a new journey, you will be starting over again, like the
rising Sun. You can become experienced, but you cannot know if your knowledge is true or
not. You are always starting from the beginning, every moment of your life. Eshu is always
young. There is a grown up, mature Eshu called Legba, but you will never be completely
grown up. There is always more to learn. You can try to become Legba but you will never
reach that point. There is always another hill to climb. The crossroads is where you
always are. If you think you have reached the end, youre mistaken and Eshu will
trick you again.

The name, Eshu, can be spelled as Esu. This name appears in the center of Yesuo,
which is Jesus. Jesus is sometimes called the Christ spirit. Im not too sure what
the Christ spirit is supposed to be. Esu is sometimes called the Devil spirit. Eshu is the
rising sun and the point where everything begins. Yesuo is what everything is traveling
through. Yesuo is mans body and his environment. The S in Yesuo is Shin and means
learning.

Eshu means rising. Evo means setting. Eshu is East, where the Sun rises. Evo is
West, where the Sun sets. The path between the two words is the path of life. Eshu is the
source of the word, Asia, the land of the rising Sun. Evo is the source of the word
Europe, the land of the setting Sun. Evo was once pronounced Euo, even though modern witch
cults pronounce it Evohe. Evohe comes from the word EUOI, which is a sound people make
while having sex, and was used in the mystery cults of ancient Greece, as a secret sacred
name. It is Tetragrammaton, the four-letter word. There is another sacred four-letter word
that was used since ancient times, and is still used today by just about everyone. Only a
real pagan would recognize its sacredness.

The environment can affect how you feel and what you believe, and your biggest
environmental factor is yourself. The path you choose will be your environment. Everything
you do is done to yourself. You might take a wrong path, which would lead you to wrong
ideas, which can lead you farther down the wrong path. People often get into an
uncomfortable situation and cant get out of it because their self-made environment
has given them an attitude that prevents them from getting out. They dont realize
that they are creating their own Hell, that a simple change in course could free them
from. It may be difficult to break a habit that keeps you on a wrong path.

Mankind has many choices to make as he selects his path A shaman can help our
society become more uncivilized. A shaman is not exactly a priest. Generally, a priest
learns his craft from some kind of institution in his cult. I usually think of priests as
lawful and solemn. A shaman is someone who has the ability to communicate with the Gods.
They invent their own religion. They are known as wizards. Generally, shamans are chaotic
personalities, under the influence of the dark forces of Evil. They are the most
uncivilized of all people. Usually after a society is conquered by civilization, a few
shamans are the only ones who still try to live in the old ways.

Only a few people are born with the shamans curse. Shamans were a vital part
of a primitive society. They can see things in a way most people cant. They could
make a societys view of the world make sense, or not make sense. They ministered
religion to people, back when we were part of Nature. They are not just plugged into their
own unconscious, but also the unconscious of a society. The mythology, ethics, styles, and
attitude of a culture is like a map that the Shaman can read. Perhaps they could feel
Natures ways and a societys needs, and guide people to follow the right
natural path. All societies produce a few of them. The genetic trait that produces them
could be a natural part of us. Even though they are often insane, they could be a
selective advantage to the society. Their insanity keeps the society sane; therefore,
natural selection has molded mankind to be a species that produces a few shaman. They are
the gifted winged ones. In a natural society they become important, but in a civilized
society shamans are lost. Their vision fails to fit civilization, so they end up as
confused social rejects. Civilization has rejected the shaman in the same way that it
rejects all Nature. The shaman should be up on a hill seeing and dreaming about their view
of Nature but most cannot find Nature in civilization.

Even back in primitive times, the shaman was often considered a crackpot.
Generally they separate from society, alone with their personal Demons. They would only
come back to the rest of the tribe when they had some reason. A shamans reason for
doing anything is something even the shaman might not understand. A vision quest is like
performing a spell. And the meaning of this spell is the important part. Perhaps, in order
to know this meaning various allies are needed. These allies can be almost anything, from
things to thoughts. The shamans magic bundle might look like a bag of junk. His
activities might seem pointless. The places he goes might seem strange. The shaman can
seem quite mad.

Often, the shaman has to travel through a mystical door to enter the world of the
Gods. In order to better demonstrate what I am talking about, I will show you what this
door might look like, using some of my own concepts. The gray, circle, with the
six-pointed star in it is a map, which uses a mystical order of the concepts. The circle
is eight, the number of the priest. In the middle is four, the number of the door between
this and that. The six-pointed star inside is made by uniting two triangles. The red
triangle, pointing up, represents fire, the spirit. The green triangle, pointing down,
represents matter. This is the symbol of the seasonal God.

During the winter solstice, the creator spirit unites with Mother nature and
conceives a son. He is born in the Spring, reaches maturity during Summer, and dies during
the Fall. Each point in the symbol is connected by a line to a point on the opposite side
of the symbol. A brown line represents the circle of the equator and connects the Morning
Star of denying passion, which appears in the East, with the Evening Star of asserting
passion, which appears in the West. The purple line represents the circle of the Zodiac.
The two lines cross during the spring equinox. The spring equinox is the Door through
which the son is born. An invisible mystery line connects the Sun with the Zodiac. The
mystery line also connects the top point of the red triangle with the bottom point of the
green triangle. The red triangle is South and the green is North. If you picture this
symbol in the sky, East and West would be on opposite sides of a. picture of this symbol
on the ground. This symbol had a very special meaning during the Golden Age, when the
mystery line was the Milky Way.

In each age, the symbol has a different meaning. The Taurian age was a door, along
the purple line, with Saturn on one side and Mars on the other. During the Taurian Age,
The equinox began moving away from the Milky way. For 6,480 years Man became more
civilized, as fate moved away from the Milky Way. During the Age of Aquarius, the equinox
will begin to move back towards the Milky Way. For the next 6,480 years the equinox will
move towards the place where the Milky way crosses between Sagittarius and Scorpio.
Scorpio is Earth, and in the Age of Scorpio, the celestial North Pole will be near the
Milky way. The Age of Aquarius has Leo and Aquarius on the mystery line, which means that
the Morning Star and the Evening Star were in their proper house. Hopefully these signs
indicate that progress will stop. The halves of a figure eight represent Fall and Spring.
Spring is the time of birth and youth. Fall is the time of death. Both halves equal four
and represent the West. The God of the Spring is Dionysus, a God of passion, called EVO.
The God of Fall is Zeus, a destructive thunder God, and the west wind, called JOVE. In the
middle of the figure eight is the Door. Two triangles can be drawn, with one in each side
of the figure eight. One triangle is Spirit. One is matter. If the triangles touch, it is
a symbol of conception. If the two triangles point away from each other, it is a symbol of
death and fall.

The symbol for the number four is one branch of the swastika. Eight is two
branches. All four branches would equal 16, the number of transcendence. Two branches of
the swastika can be drawn as two lightning bolts that stretch through the two sides of the
figure eight. One bolt is 2/3 in Spring and 1/3 in Fall. The other is 1/3 in Spring and
2/3 in Fall. The symbol is only complete with both sides. The complex symbol is made from
a swastika, two triangles and a figure eight, and is called the Druid. Crossing the center
of the figure eight, between both sides, is a red line of the soul, which also represents
the mystic who may choose to explore this symbol. It can be a door that rests between
anything.

Imagine two triangles passing through each other. They touch point to point and
there is conception. They unite and there is life. They separate and there is death. The
purple and brown line remain connected to their points of the triangle as the triangles
move through each other so that they cross each other differently in the spring equinox
than they do in the fall equinox. During a Year, the Sun moves eastward along the purple
line. It rises north of the equator during Spring, and sets south during the Fall.

As You draw a figure eight, you may notice how it is clockwise on one side and
counterclockwise on the other. The west can be Natures greatest enemy or it can be a
mystics greatest view of Nature. The door is a mystic eye between your two eyes. You
can often see things better when you see the clockwise turned counterclockwise. This does
not mean you destroy them.

I like to set my temple clockwise and set things that I consider wrong
counterclockwise, but you dont have to do this. It is possible for there to be a
counterclockwise temple where evil is clockwise, which would be just as Nature loving as
my temple. You can set things anyway You want. You can give the Gods any meaning you want.
My temple is just a way of classifying things. People can see things in many different
ways. Not all of these ways are right, but there can be more than one right way.
Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, and any others who invent written dogmas,
really dont understand religion at all. Religion comes from the free imagination.
Only the primitive shaman understands. The truth is that 10 is everything, 4 is the door
and 10 is the mystic number of 4, because 1+2+3+4=10. Everything is the mystic truth of
the door. The mystic truth is the key that can unlock the door. Beyond the door is the
mystery line. On it a shaman can see the meaning of his culture. He can see the meaning of
his age on it. If he can see far enough on it, he can see that one voice common to all
shaman, Azoth.

A shaman will usually start to feel the effects of his curse when he is young. His
first experience can be a total mental breakdown. In primitive societies an older shaman
may help him develop his vision. Without this help, the young shaman may become confused
and never realize the full potential of his gift.

When I was young in Brazil, a man who worked as a handyman at the school I went to
was a sort of hermit and had a reputation of being a witch doctor. He was supposed to be a
mixed South American Indian and African. He also supposedly knew both African and Indian
black magic. He often noticed how I didnt act like the other kids, and he would
sarcastically tell me that I would grow up to be like him. When I started to see things
and hear things and feel things, none of the civilized people understood. They wanted to
destroy my vision by using psychology. I wanted to keep my vision. During recess after
lunch in school, I talked to the witch doctor. He told stories. I only remember parts of a
few of the stories.

In his stories, he often mentioned the Devil, usually as a cause of accidents. He
usually called the Devil, "the Devil." Occasionally, during special parts of
stories, he called the Devil "EXU." This had a very dramatic effect and helped
me to realize the importance of sacred names. He said that Sunrise is birth; noon is
maturity, and sunset is death. This helped me to construct a temple. He told me EXU is the
rising Sun at the center of the crossroads of life. He told me a few stories about the
female Jaguar of the jungle called Nemora. Nemora was deadly, death herself. The nuns at
school taught me that Nature was deadly, and that technology could save man from Nature.
The witch doctor did not condemn Nemora. Instead, he said that he himself had hunted with
her. As a kid, I liked the brutality of the stories. I began to realize that his way of
seeing things was not civilized. I began to realize the difference between what is
civilized and what is savage. I only talked to him a few times, but I learned a lot. His
information helped me develop my own vision, so I didnt end up as confused as I
would have been if I let civilization destroy my vision.

After a short time the young shaman may return to normal behavior. Many years
later, he may start to feel a calling. This calling is an obsession that just happens. He
might be living a happy life before the calling, and suddenly becomes mad. He might
remember the breakdown he had long ago, and the things the other shaman showed him. That
breakdown is the key that can help him unlock the door that the obsession wants to enter.

The shaman is the door through which powers can act upon the Earth. Through him
all things are made. He gets sacred power by walking in a sacred manner. He may show other
people ways to walk in a sacred manner. Though him people are healed. The fire that
Prometheus gave man was religion. As he hung upon the tree, Odin found the sacred letters
of this religion. This tree grows in the middle of the Earth circle. Black Elk saw this
tree become weak, as civilization infected the circle of his people, but he also saw that
the tree could bloom again It will, when the ancient Gods rise again. The shaman will open
the door. No one else has the keys.

In Mexican mythology, there is a great king who created civilization. One day a
trickster came to the temple with a black mirror. This mirror was the night sky with all
the stars that represent what is, was, and will be. Inside this mirror was the truth about
men. Inside of it the king saw the reflection of a man. Before this, the king did not know
that his reflection was that of a man.